


New life

by Gayforswimmerz



Series: Dreaming of a better place [1]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Angst, Earth AU, F/F, F/M, M/M, Not Humanstuck, PTSD, Rebellion, more added later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-28
Updated: 2016-02-21
Packaged: 2018-05-10 01:03:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5562742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gayforswimmerz/pseuds/Gayforswimmerz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Only the wind sang among the trees as a small boy ran through the thick forest, his small feet thumping against the dried dirt as he tried to run away from the scene he had just witnessed. Everything was red. From the flames that licked at the walls of his hive and to the blood bathing the floor, getting bigger and bigger as its sources thrashed in pain.<br/>The high bloods were never one for mercy. </p><p>----<br/>Or the AU in which the trolls are refugees from Alternia and are constantly being bullied by the human race leading to a deal being made between a certain cool kid and crabby alien so the latter could stay safe.</p><p>* On hiatus*</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Even paradise has its flaws

**Author's Note:**

> New to Homestuck in a fic sense so sorry for any mistakes  
> i'm not gonna give any hints away to where the fic will be going like in my others so tags will be added along with le chapters  
> enjoy this crap fest yassss

It was so silent.

Only the wind sang among the trees as a small boy ran through the thick forest, his small feet thumping against the dried dirt as he tried to run away from the scene he had just witnessed. Everything was red. From the flames that licked at the walls of his hive and to the blood bathing the floor, getting bigger and bigger as its sources thrashed in pain.

The high bloods were never one for mercy.

The boy knew this day was upon him, the day where the high bloods would become so engrossed in power that they would try and take matters into their own hands, slaughtering  the low bloods or anyone who stood in their way. They craved dominance over the beings they deemed nothing more than dirt and they got it delivered on a silver platter.

They had been first, of course.

It was only right that they start from the bottom and work their way up and he was the lowest of the low. His blood held a rare color that only existed due to his mutation. It didn’t matter how beautifully red his blood was, it was- he was an abomination that needed to be seen to.

His father and his brother had already had their blood drained. It was now his turn.

“This way!”

The silence was ripped apart by a stampede of (what he guessed was) high bloods, their torches illuminating the dimensions of each and every tree that erupted out of the ground in front and behind him. This was it...he was going to die.

“Don’t even try and beg like your pitiful kin...mutant.” A voice spat, the boy didn’t dare turn around because he knew what fate awaited him after all, he had watched his father suffer it.

“Karkat!”

The boy’s eyebrows knitted together in a mix of relief and confusion as he heard his name being called through the night. The flames that stood over him from the high bloods were now gone in a flash of blue and red tendrils.

He turned his head sharply to find his salvation, relief rushing through his being as he spotted two figures in the dark, both owning a pair of blue and red eyes. Both of the rescuers had drying splatters of blood on their clothes: blue, purple, brown but no yellow which sent a shiver of relief down Karkat’s spine, his friends had not been harmed.

“KK, C’mon!” The shorter of the two called as the tallest sprinted through the trees. “We gotta get moving!”

The young Alternian sprinted towards the awaiting hand of his friend, gripping it with his own blood stained one so he could be pulled towards what he hoped to be safety.

**_-_-_-**

Karkat winced as he felt a wave of ice cascade down his face forcing him to jolt awake, causing his horns to roughly collide with a set of tiles on the wall he was slumped against, causing them to crack.

He was no longer within his memories, no longer on Alternia. He was on Earth.

He’s not entirely sure if he was happy with that.

True. Earth was every refugee’s second chance, a new life away from the horror of everyday life that they had to endure on their home planet but the treatment on Earth was slowly snowballing into something that matched the oppression on Alternia.

The young alien was slumped against a wall in what he guessed was a bathroom in the high school he was forced to go to. All Alternian’s under nine sweeps were forced to have an education provided by the country in which they reside in and with Karkat being eight and a half sweeps he had no choice but to endure the wonders of the human education system.  
  
The water dripping down Karkat’s flushed cheeks pulled him out of his thoughts. The clear liquid started mixing with what must be his blood because each drip that rounded off his chin and fell onto his clothes was slightly pink in coloration.

“Why is it always me that gets you out of this shit?”

Karkat blinked upwards to his fellow Alternian, scowling angrily before wiping his face only to wince when he felt the tender bruising around his nose and eye. Yep, his nose was bleeding.

“They called me Troll.” He growled, sitting up with another wince. The bastards that jumped him got him good, aiming mostly at his ribs where his grub scars were. Thanks to the lessons that the humans supplied on Alternian’s, bullies now knew where many weak spots were on an Alternian’s body. Fuck you very much, human race.  “You expect me to sit back and let those bulgemunchers get away with that?”

“You need to let these things go...” Sollux dropped his bag next to him, kneeling down so he could look at the other boy in the eyes. Karkat sighed when he looked up to meet his friend’s eyes. His sunglasses were off now; Sollux was forced to wear them upon his arrival to the high school after several students had complained about his eyes creeping them out.

“Let them go?” Karkat growled, wiping his bloody nose on his jumper causing the taller of the two to retrieve a wad of tissue paper from one of the stools, which Karkat took gratefully. “How can I fucking let this go? Huh? We suffered discrimination on Alternia, Soll... now we’re suffering it here.”

Sollux frowned, biting his bottom lip with his four fangs and nibbling on it as he thought. “Anything is better than Alternia, KK.” He peered through his thick eyelashes as he faced the tiled floor splattered with essences of candy red blood and water. “At least here we aren’t getting culled for something we can’t control.”

The smaller Alternian nodded, a frown appearing on his face as he remembered all those who fell to the high bloods’ rampages. Karkat looked up to spy Sollux placing his black out shades on his nose once again and fixing up his hair in one of the mirrors screwed to the wall.

‘Though you’re getting forced to cover up something you can’t control.’ Karkat thought angrily. Sollux wasn’t the only one that was made to bend his appearance to suit the humans. Karkat’s very close friend, Gamzee, was forced to remove his clown makeup which upset him to no end. Nepeta had to keep her tail hidden, wrapping it around her leg or torso which gave her a great deal of discomfort. Karkat often caught himself thinking what the school would do when his retinas filled with the color of his blood. Would they make him cover up his red eyes?

“C’mon. Egbert is probably looking for your thorry ass.” Sollux gave the smaller of the two a toothy grin before offering him a hand to stand up. He normally tries so hard to cover up his lisp due to bullying but accidentally lets it slip every now and then.

In many ways, Karkat was thankful for Sollux. Mainly because he was always saving his thorry ass.

-_-_-_

Due to Karkat not having any surviving family, he was forced to take residence in a human household like many other Alternian’s.

This household so happened to be the fucking Egbert’s.

John was a good brother in most senses. He helped Karkat with his homework and he often explained many human things to him whenever he was confused. But...the boy was an idiot. In some ways that was good because whenever Karkat had a run in with bullies John always believed his terrible lies and left him alone about the bruises and cuts.

Dave didn’t though.

Dave, in few words was an insufferable prick.

Not only does he piss Karkat off endlessly with his deadpan face and the inability to show a little emotion, but the blond was constantly on his bulge about the assortments of bruises he would gain each day.

And today was no different to the rest because as soon as Karkat rounded the corner to where he and John meet up to walk home, Dave immediately turned to stare at him. Karkat knew by the slight parting of the boy’s lips and a drop in his shoulders that he had already spotted the blossoming red bruises that flowered across his cheeks, standing out beautifully against his ash colored skin.

Dave never brought the bruises up in front of John, he usually waited until they were alone to question new marks across his face, shoulders and the rare occasions of arms and legs.

“Woah, man...what happened to you?” John asked, giving his adopted brother a worried smile, his goofy teeth peeking out between his parted lips as he scanned Karkat’s face.

Karkat usually went with an obvious lie with a hint of sarcasm. “I thought it would be a marvelous idea to repeatedly fucking walk into a book shelf and wow, would you look at that, I was right because now I have beautiful decorations on my face and look like an Earth Chrusmas tree.”

John chuckled, his fingers coming to rest on his bottom lip as he did so. “It’s a Christmas tree.” John shook his head before turning around, pulling his backpack on tighter as he strolled down the teenage infested streets.

Karkat often found himself looking for horns in the crowds but he always made himself sad. His race was slowly diminishing in their numbers, almost becoming extinct both on Earth, Alternia and among the stars, it’s not that his race is bad, just some people who happen to belong to it are. However, looking for other Alternian’s gave a good excuse for him to avoid Dave’s shielded gaze, which often bore into him on days like today.

“Dave?” John called back from the front of the group.

“Waddup?” Dave answered quickly, his emotionless mask not slipping even a little as his eyes jumped from bruise to cut to bruise.

“Is your Bro back yet?” the brunette asked with an adorable goofy smile.

It often made Karkat mad how a person could be so happy, but he just narrowed it down to the fact that John was an idiot. Simple.

“Bro? Nah man, he’s probably waist deep in all kinds of ass right now.” Dave shrugged, his hands running down his shirt until they stopped at his trouser pockets. “Both human and smuppet.” He visibly shivered.

“Still with Jake, huh?” John asked with an encouraging smile on his face.

It was no secret that Dave wasn’t fond of his brother’s boyfriend. It’s not that he didn’t like the tanned adventurer as a person, he just hated the fact that he took up so much of his brother’s time which didn’t leave that much time for Dave to be in his life.

“Yeah, I mean I should probably stop expecting a break up to be honest.” Dave dropped his head so he was facing the floor as he walked, watching his red converses as they kicked up little clouds of dust in their wake. “What with them going out for four years now, Hell, I should start expecting wedding invitations, though the name on mine will not be ‘Dave Badass Strider’ it’ll be ‘kid I occasionally see and share an apartment with.’”

“C’mon, it can’t be that bad.” The boy frowned, pushing his glasses further up his nose so that the square frames covered his eyes, glistening in the sun light.

Dave seemed to be thinking something over in his head, his tongue quickly darting out to wet his lips before he spoke again. “But it is that bad. Do you know what else is bad, Egbert? I have fucking proof that Jake is a very religious man in certain situations. I’m talking on all fours and calling out to every known God. Dude is hella religious, every morning is like a Sunday sermon- or should I say semen-“

“Woah!” John’s hands immediately flew up to cradle his ears away from the homosexual insinuations as if the small barrier would keep out the gay. “Too much information, I don’t want to know about your Brother’s sex life.”

“Yeah, well strangely enough.” Dave shook his head, his hands slowly digging deeper into his pockets. “Neither do I.”

Karkat could only watch the conversation, he never spoke unless he was spoken to and he preferred it like that; the less time he spent conversing with these two the better. Not that he hated them or anything; he just could only take them in small bursts especially since Dave keeps on glancing at the new additions to his face.

“Anyway.” John laughed with a shake of his head. “Dad said that you could come round for dinner or something. He said you needed to eat something better than takeout food.”

“Is there anything better?” The blond asked quickly with a slight quirk of his lips.

“A good home cooked meal?” John asked, obviously using his father’s words.

Dave clicked his tongue against his teeth. “Free meal and Miss Lalonde? How can I pass that up?”

Karkat liked Mr Egbert’s fiancé; he never knew his mother but he liked to think she was like Miss Lalonde. She has a bit of a drinking problem and yeah, she is not the most attentive of people but when she is in the mom zone she really comes through.  
It was also a plus that Karkat would be able to witness what humans call a ‘Wedding’ in a couple of weeks, he often saw them in his romcoms and he would be lying if he said that he wasn’t a little curious.

“Shit that means that Rose is going to be there.” Dave sighed, one of his hands wriggling free from his skinny jean pockets to run through his hair.

“Well yeah with her living there and all.” John rolled his eyes at his friend, though a playful smile found its way onto his lips.

Karkat totally didn’t stifle a chuckle when Dave playfully shoved John into a thorn bush, because he fucking laughed out loud.

 


	2. A Deal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dave finally thinks of a way to keep his worries at bay

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just Dave and Karkat having a feels jam

Karkat spent most of his time in his room, occasionally leaving to snoop around in the kitchen or maybe into John’s room for a movie marathon but other than that, he stayed in his room.  
He sure as Hell stayed out Rose’s way for as long as he could, especially with bruises; he didn’t need her reading into things like she always does because sometimes she was as bad as Dave. Though, Dave never took knitting needles to school for protection which he was scared she would do for him.

Karkat liked being alone, he has been by himself for most of his life after all; he learnt quickly that when a person was alone, there was little room for disappointment.

He always found himself looking out of his window, gazing longingly at the stars. It seemed so long ago that he and other survivors were flying among them and leaving behind a dark past that kept bubbling up past cracks in the many walls he had built around himself for protection. In some ways he missed the scorching heat of the summer, he even missed the wails of the night monsters that lurked outside his hive, scratching at his door. He constantly felt homesick, which is slightly worrying because his home planet was full of Alternian’s that wanted his blood mixed in with the dirt they walked on.

Maybe he was a masochist?

No, don’t open that door.

Before Karkat could open the door leading to a possible self realization, there was a knock at his own. The boy swallowed, his face becoming hot with fear as he tried to think who was behind it.   
If it was Mr Egbert there was no way he would look past the bruising on his face, he may even order Karkat to lift his shirt to reveal the rest. Miss Lalonde was a different story, if she saw the bruises she would press the matter but nine times out of ten she missed them completely. If Rose was on the other side of the door Karkat felt like jumping out of his window.

“Karkles?”

And every God ever hated him.

He would recognize that dumb nickname anywhere, it was the one Dave used when they had a ‘feelings jam’. The blond had given it to him within the first few months of his arrival to earth accompanied by ‘Kitkat’, but that came and went very quickly when Karkat used the chocolaty treat to demonstrate to Dave what he would do to him if he didn’t stop.

“Go away.” Karkat growled at the piece of wood as if it offended him personally.

“No can do.” Came the muffled reply from behind the door. The Alternian could imagine the blond with his hands in his pockets, tilting back and forth on his feet idly. “John started talking to Vriska and you know how that’s gonna turn out. Rose is staying at Kanaya’s. Which leaves you fortunate enough to bathe in all of the Strider glory.”

“What if I don’t want to?” he hissed back, he knew that the blond was acting all innocent out in the hall so if anyone else heard him it wouldn’t be a problem which Karkat liked a little; Dave didn’t go running his mouth, he was loyal. “What if I don’t want to bathe in the so called ‘Strider glory’ because I’m pretty sure someone peed in the shallow end?”

“Well then we better get you checked out, Karkles.” Dave replied and Karkat could imagine the dumb grin on his face, “If you don’t want any more Strider then you need help right away, I hear from a number of sources that cutting down on Strider induces terrible withdrawal symptoms. These may include itchy nipples, sudden growth in ear hair-“

“Oh. My God.” Karkat groaned, slowly standing up from his bed. “Are you that much of an idiot to not know when you’re not wanted? Answer me this. Have you ever conversed with anyone who has initiated the conversation? Or do you just flutter like a fly around horse excrement from person to person in hopes of finding someone who can put up with you long enough to keep you fucking entertained? Have you got your head so far up your own nook that you think people want to, and I quote, ‘bathe in all of the strider glory’? ”

There was no anger behind his voice, a little annoyance but sure as hell there was no anger. Despite what people may think Karkat was strangely fond of the human. He wouldn’t tell anyone though, that would ruin his reputation of not giving a shit about anything.

If the throaty chuckle from the other side of the door was anything to go by, Dave knew that he didn’t mean it to be hurtful. “Just open the door, Karkles.”

Karkat couldn’t be arsed anymore to prevent the inevitable. Striding across his room and being sure to take a look in his mirror on the way to the door: making sure that most bodily bruises were covered. Dave had already seen his face; there was no point in trying to hide those.

“What do you want?” the alien asked the blond as he threw open his door, crossing his arms over his chest to at least attempt to look threatening. Alas, Dave was still taller than him and had the advantage of actual muscle whereas Karkat only had a growly facade.

“You know what I want.” Dave whispered, pushing the boy back into his room by placing a hand over his heart, shutting the door with his foot. Karkat would’ve deemed the action as sexual or at least a build up to something of the sort, but Dave has never expressed those feelings to him, or anyone really...or any emotion.

Karkat frowned, pulling away from the warm hand pressed so firmly against him. “I have it under control.” He whispered, trying his best to hide his face.

“ _This_ does not look under control.” The blond dragged his fingers lightly against the heavy bruising around his nose.

Karkat couldn’t help but wince, pushing the hand away from his face with a quiet whimper. “Stop it. It’s fine. Unlike you Alternian’s have a fast healing process so these will be gone by tomorrow morning at the latest.”

“So it gives the bullies a new canvas?” Dave raised a thick eyebrow at the fact, “I hate seeing you like this, Karkles.” Dave stepped forward with his hand stretched outwards as Karkat stepped back. The latter wanting as much space as possible between them. He was confused by Dave’s touching. It almost felt warm and oddly comforting but Karkat guessed these feelings were brought up because someone actually cared enough to seek him out and give him physical comfort.

“Well we can’t help what I look like, can we?” The alien frowned, “This isn’t build-a-Karkat. You take what you get and you don’t throw a fit.”

“If I was to build a Karkat I would sew up the mouth because that thing is the source to all problems.” Dave sassed, crossing his arms as soon as it dawned on him that Karkat didn’t want to be touched.

“Excuse you?”

“It’s true, isn’t it?” the blond shrugged, turning his head in boredom as if to show he didn’t need to pay attention to the conversation because he had already won it.

“Well...“Karkat started, his voice going low in uncertainty as he couldn’t think of a good enough lie.

“Knew it.” Dave sighed, his hands dropping to his sides. “Okay, I’m going to make you a deal to benefit both of us, something to keep me at ease because I can’t take you getting hurt.”

“I don’t need anything from you and you sure as Hell can’t gain anything from me.” Karkat growled, turning to walk back over to his bed, maybe one of the few things that humans made that aren’t entirely useless because it was comfortable as Hell.

“I beg to differ; knowing you’re safe is enough.” Dave deadpanned. “I’m going to be the Karkat protection agency. Up until now I hoped Sollux or Gamzee would protect you but obviously not.”

Karkat’s ears perked up to the proposition, his mouth twisting downward in shock. With a stutter and a growl erupting from his throat Karkat raised his finger to the smirking blond. “I- Wha- no!” he shrieked, “I don’t need you to protect me- I can protect myself-“ his gaze turned to the floor, not able to lie to the boy.

“Evidently.” The human smirked, “C’mon Karkat, even with your ‘advanced healing’ or whatever,” His hands raised by his face to show that he may not believe the healing of the aliens inhabiting his planet, his voice tired showing that he was stressing over the situation-something rare in Dave standards. “I just don’t like the idea of you getting beaten up; you’re a good guy and you sure as hell don’t deserve it.”

Karkat looked up from the floor, catching a glimpse of Dave’s eyes from behind his glasses. It was just an outline but he could see the raw worry behind the barrier into the blonds’ feelings, he almost felt guilty for making him worry all this time, causing his blood pusher to sting with pain. With a sigh he turned his head to the floor again, his fingers diving deep into his unruly black hair and scratching at the base of his horns.

“Fine.” He groaned, after all he had to keep his cover up the fact that he did have emotions.

A smile grew onto the slim line of Dave’s lips, revealing his pearly white teeth framed by the dimples in his freckled cheeks, folding around the jagged white (almost unnoticeable) scar that ran across his left cheek bone. Karkat wasn’t sure how he got it and he sure as hell wasn’t going to ask, Dave rarely talked about himself so by actually getting a secret or two from the blond meant a lot.

“Great.” Dave nodded his head, shoving his hands into his pockets to stop himself from reaching out for the alien. “Meet me in the usual place tomorrow morning. It’ll be a full on Karkles protection agency all up in the school. Bullies are gonna shit themselves when they see you with the Strider and will be crying for their mommas. They’re gonna beg me to be their body guards and then before you know it they’ll be singing symphonies about how they will always love me-“

“Dave.” Karkat shook his head with his hands pushing against the taller boy’s chest to try and get him past the threshold of his bedroom door. “Can you go one second without being a pompous butt jockey? Get out my room. I need to sleep.”

With a final shove Karkat pushed the human out of his room, slamming the door in his face and leaning against it to make sure he didn’t try to get in again, though Dave had learnt the hard way that when banished from the realm of Karkat it was best to stay out.

The smile that the blond wore on his face didn't falter once for the rest of the night. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So ya, if its not clear due to my terrible writing Dave has feelings for Karkat (hes confused about them and wishes to spend more time with Karkat in order to figure them out)
> 
> Karkat has never thought about his feelings for Dave- giving off the impression that he cant stand him to everyone else but he actually doesn't mind him- he just prefers to be alone due to his past


	3. MoThErFuCkIn' CiRcUs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gamzee appears and Karkat and Dave make plans

By morning the bruises that were littered across Karkat’s face had vanished and only a dull pain was left in their wake meaning that he could show his face at breakfast; if they were still there he would’ve just walked to school after Mr Egbert and Ms Lalonde had left the house, he’d rather be late to school than have them involved and worry over something that was nothing.

Memories of the deal made between him and Dave were swimming in his head and he was still not sure it was a good idea or not, but if it turns out to be the worst idea since the great rebellion he will just hide from the human.

“Karkat!” He groaned loudly as he heard John pounding against his door as he passed it. “Time for school!” His words were followed by the dull thump of his feet against the stairs, running down to grab his breakfast.

Due to Karkat still being in slight pain from the bruises he chose to ignore his brother-from-another-planet and slump back in bed for another twenty minutes sleep. He’ll just grab something to eat on the way there; it wouldn’t be the first time after all.

 

_-_-_-_-_-

John had left without him because twenty minutes had turned into forty.

Zoosmell Pooplord had grown impatient and left when Karkat was rolling himself out of the weird contraption that humans called a ‘bed’. Of course, John has done this more than once and Karkat was never angry about it because it gave him a chance to walk, to be immersed in his thoughts, memories and most importantly, it gave him a chance to be away from the goof ball that is John.

He loved John and didn’t take him for granted; he wasn’t going to make the mistake of taking people for granted again.

...okay maybe being alone with his thoughts was a bad thing.

It wasn’t often that he was reminded of his past life on Alternia but when he was it hit him like a brick to the face. He would usually crawl under his covers and refuse to come out until someone physically dragged him out of his cushiony fortress of angst and self loathing then he would forget about the session of sadness and repress his memories until they reared their ugly head again, normally following each vulgar beating.

A frown pulled at his chapped lips, his eyes turning to stare at the path finding a distraction in his feet crushing the leaves as he dragged himself to school, fighting the urge to just turn around spend all day in bed crying over his pathetic excuse for a life. The idea appealed to him because with that plan he could angst to the max like every other teenager as well as avoid Dave and bullies. Mostly Dave. The human made him feel weird- Karkat just thought it was because of his face making him feel sick but it couldn’t be that because that’s the lie he tells himself when he gets the weird feeling.

Karkat was too busy loathing and questioning himself that he didn’t hear the approach of large purple shoes slapping against the path in a happy run.

“Best Friend!”

These two words were the only warning Karkat earned before being jumped on by a flailing juggalo. “Oh best friend, It’s been such a motherfuckin’ long time!”

“Gamzee...” Karkat smiled slightly as the name passed his lips, relief filling his voice as he felt the taller alternian’s arm pull him in for an awkward sideways hug, almost impossible to do as the two were still moving.

“How’re you doing, Karbro?” the high blood’s voice was scratchy and he punctuated every syllable slowly which often got on the humans’ nerves but it made Karkat smile; Gamzee was always happy, a smile across his face even when the humans taunt him about his strange appearance.  

“I’m good.” Karkat shrugged, not wanting Gamzee to worry or ‘trigger’ him in anyway.  A rule was put in place to not worry or anger any high bloods due to many of them lashing out causing murders across the face of the planet... which often made Karkat wonder why his race is still allowed on Earth...probably because prescription drugs and facilities existed to keep them in line and stoned all the fucking time. Still, humans tended to stay away from the Alternians’ with a purple spot on their clothes, avoiding them at all costs even to the point where they cross the street, leave a shop or even a movie theatre. Gamzee has never noticed this of course but Kurloz had. The older Makara always seems to frown when he notices people avoiding him; Kurloz has always wanted people to accept him.

“How have you been?” Karkat asked with a little fond smile perched on his lips.

“I’ve been so motherfuckin great!” the juggalo smiled, reminding  Karkat that he will never get used to Gamzee’s bare face; he missed the white makeup even if it was what murderous high bloods wore to show their class. “Kurloz, Tavros and I went to the motherfuckin’ circus last night, was a great show bro...totally recommend it.”

Karkat nodded a little, biting his bottom lip in thought. “May give it a chance...” he had always wanted to see a live circus after Mr Egbert told him for a full five hours the theory and countless facts behind clowns and harlequins.

“It’s a motherfuckin’ miraculous thing...” Gamzee trailed off, his voice becoming distant as he entered a state of ecstasy- a side effect of his medication due to the large doses he had to take. Blue bloods rarely had these as they took smaller doses; their murderous tendencies were nothing compared to status that Gamzee belonged to. His brother wasn’t as bad; he was a shy alternian- especially rare for his status as grand high blood descendents tended to be loud and always the centre of attention.  He wasn’t a big fan of speaking after the rebellion.

_-_-_-_-_

“I was beginning to think you weren’t going to show up on me, Karkles.”

The fucker had waited for Karkat right in the usual meeting point even though the bell must’ve gone over an hour ago.  Dave was leaning against the wire fence rolling his earphones around his fingers before sliding them into his pocket to join his ipod.

“Why’re you here?! Are you fucking crazy?” Karkat shrieked, positively blown away by the stupidity that the human possessed; the school didn’t care much for an Alternian’s education- hell they probably wouldn’t even notice that he was late and he could just crawl in at any point like a small horned ninja, but what they would notice was a human missing lessons especially if it was due to a ‘troll’.

“Nope. Just fucking serious about keeping you safe.” Dave smiled slightly, hoisting his back pack higher onto his shoulder, poised and ready to pass through the gate, his head lolling lazily against his shoulder as he stared at Karkat. “Are you coming?”

Karkat tried to stutter out an insult about how unbelievably stupid he was being and how much of an idiot he was to choose his well being over his own education but he couldn’t say anything; he just stood gaping like a sea dweller at the blond, totally not liking that Dave would do such a thing for him to just keep him safe. Totally not liking it because it was an idiotic thing to do. Idiot.

Karkat gave out a huff as he passed Dave through the gate earning a smirk from the blond, making him want to pound his sunglasses into the dirt.

Dave wasn’t kidding when he said he was fucking serious about keeping Karkat safe because no matter what class he had the blond was always standing outside of it with his signature blank mask plastered on his face, leaning like the cool kid he was up against the wall, nodding his head as soon as he saw Karkat.

He followed him everywhere he went, including the bathroom. He even sat next to him in the cafeteria which made Sollux raise an eyebrow in questioning.

“Why is he here?” The four horned Alternian asked as he pointed his fork at the blond.

“For the warm welcome that you give, Captor.” Dave sassed without missing a beat, shoving his bag onto the floor and pulling out a bag of Doritos which made Karkat worry a little; he hadn’t seen Dave eat a proper meal (that Mr Egbert hadn’t made him) since Dirk had gotten together with Jake.

Sollux laughed loudly and sarcastically before his face fell to a deadpan, mirroring Dave perfectly as they were wearing matching shades, Dave would argue against that though since his glasses were supposedly ‘one of a kind’. “No, but theriouthly why?”

Dave sniggered at Sollux’s lisp, earning a yellow blush to spread across his ash grey cheeks.

“I think we both know how Karkles’ mouth can get him into trouble.” Dave sniggered. “I’m here to make sure that his mouth doesn’t earn him any unwanted attention.”

Sollux’s glasses slipped down his narrow nose, allowing Karkat to see the look of approval Sollux gave the two. Sollux would have done the job himself, of course, but it would look better if a human beat up a human rather than an Alternian beating up a human, that would earn him suspension for sure...and possibly a one way trip to a facility.

Karkat groaned into his sandwich, not liking that this was in fact his life though it could be worse, he could’ve been culled years ago on a planet that replicated Hell exactly.

He gave himself what little happiness he could have by glancing around the room to try and find a familiar pair of spiked horns and red glasses. Terezi was one of his oldest friends besides Sollux and Gamzee, though he had always hoped she would be more than a friend.

He found the blind girl in the corner of the cafeteria sitting next to Nepeta and Equius, they were deep in conversation which didn’t seem to bother Terezi as she was busy licking the screen of her phone pulling away every now and then to grin widely.

It’s a good thing she’s blind because Karkat kind of stares at her a lot.

“ _KK you’re drooling again.”_

It wasn’t often that Alternian’s would talk in their native language and it sure as hell wasn’t allowed since the human’s believed it would start an uprising. As if the aliens hadn’t learnt their lesson already.

 Karkat quickly wiped his mouth before glaring at his snickering friend, not seeing the look of confusion on Dave’s face as he spoke back. _“Shut up, butt nugget.”_

Suddenly Dave’s phone vibrated in his pocket sending movement along the bench to Karkat’s thigh, causing him to peer at the screen as the blond took it out of his pocket.

“Why do you have so many texts?” Karkat asked as he took another bite out of his sandwich. He may as well make conversation with the guy who won’t leave his side for the foreseeable future. Make this deal a whole less awkward.

The question earned the horned boy a smirk. “I’m a popular guy, Karkles. Better snatch me up while I’m still on the shelf because I’m on high demand and I wouldn’t want you to be disappointed when I’m out of stock because then-“

“Wow, sorry I asked.”  

Dave chuckled as he watched the alien turn away from him in boredom. “If you must know some of them are from Dirk. As an apology for ignoring me lately he offered to take me to the circus that’s in town, epic rides, sweets that make you feel sick after a couple of bites...the whole shebang.”

“What’s wrong about that?” Karkat sucked on his teeth irritably trying not to show that he cares; Dave was his friend of course but he made Karkat confused, making him change his perspective on the blond.

“He’s bringing Jake of course.” Dave’s shoulders noticeably sank as he released a deep sigh. “He just doesn’t get it. I want one on one time with my bro.”

Sollux glanced up from his laptop which Karkat didn’t see him get out. “Why don’t you just take someone yourself? So you’re not an awkward third wheel.”

“That just might work.” A perfectly shaped eyebrow peered over the top of Dave’s glasses as he typed out a reply to his brother, every now and then glancing to the corner of the room.

“Karkles.” He shouted after a pause causing the boy in question to choke slightly in surprise. “Fancy being my date this evening?”

Karkat blushed fiercely, dropping his sandwich to the floor with shock as he tried to dislodge the stuck piece of bread from his throat in a series of wheezes and coughs. Surprising himself that he would totally be okay with the idea.

“W-WHAT?!” he shrieked.

“Wow, hakuna your tatas.” Dave sniggered, not fazed at all by all the eyes focused on them from around the room. “Twas a joke, just thought it would be fun ya’know?” 

Karkat thought for a moment. He was curious about such Earth antics and he would be lying if he said he didn’t want to go. He wouldn’t get beaten up with Dave meaning there was a potential to have a nice fun night which would be a change from him locking himself in his room and loathing himself.

“Why me?” Karkat asked; he didn’t want to give in right away. “Why not John or someone else?”

Dave laughed; his dimples appearing as he quickly looked down to face the floor to compose himself. “John would wet himself if I took him to the circus. He hates clowns. Anyway...” Dave sighed, locking his phone and putting it back in his trouser pocket.  “You’re as much as my best friend as he is...Why not you?”

If Dave noticed the blush creeping up Karkat’s neck to his cheeks, he didn’t say anything which made the alien very happy. He was, in a word, honoured to have Dave think of him as a best friend because up until then he assumed Dave put up with him to hang around with John. “Oh...” Was all he could say. “Okay, I guess it wouldn’t  kill me to go to the circus with you.”

A smile flew onto Dave’s face making Karkat’s stomach become swarmed with earth flutter beasts.

“I’ll pick you up at five, Karkles.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> any mistakes i am terribly sorry for


	4. Circus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Circus' should have trigger warnings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shitty fic gets even more shitty.
> 
> very sorry

In all the years that Karkat had known Dave, he was never late, so when the blond said he would pick Karkat up at five he was there at four forty-five.

“Where’s your brother?” the alien asked as he closed the door behind the blond, taking him to the Egbert’s kitchen where Mr Egbert was frosting an electric pink cake-something he was trying out for his wedding. He was stressing out a lot lately due to the big day being in a matter of weeks.

Dave shrugged as he took out a bottle of apple juice from the fridge; he was practically part of the family after all and went into their fridge and cupboards all the time. Mr Egbert has always expressed that Dave could come and go as he pleased, he assumed it was lonely in the teenager’s apartment since he had no one other than his older brother who was mostly not around. “I’m not sure, probably playing a game of tonsil tennis with Jake. Dirk is probably about to make the winning shot, his sweat band saturated in sweat, the crowd being all quiet and shit-“

“Again, sorry I asked.” Karkat rolled his eyes widely at Dave, trying to hide the slight smile on his face; the horned boy rather liked it when Dave rambled because regardless of what he says about the blond he is quite funny, _especially_ when he rambles.

Dave gave Karkat a slight quirk of his lips as a response to the eye roll, bringing the bottle of apple juice up to his lips to take a quick sip. Karkat could feel the other’s eyes on him from under his sunglasses. “Is that a new jumper?” he suddenly spoke up, nodding towards Karkat’s black woolly jumper as he screwed the lid back onto his bottle.

Even though he knew what he was wearing, the alien couldn’t help but look down. The jumper wasn’t new, far from it because it was probably the oldest thing he owned. It was still baggy on him from his childhood; his father always said he would grow into it. Karkat ran one of his clawed fingers around his family emblem displayed proudly on the front of the jumper. He often heard the people of Earth call it ‘cancer’, not the terrible disease but something derived from the stars, which often made Karkat wonder if the inhabitants of Alternia were inspired by the same constellations viewed from Earth for their signs. Probably not due to the different positions but they were space travellers after all. Now that he thought about it, not many Alternian’s wear their clothes from before the rebellion, partly because they want to blend in but mostly because the signs held connotations of class, oppression and status. But for Karkat his sign never held that; it held family.

Karkat shook his head, “I’ve had it for years.”

“Even before...you arrived?” Dave, among many others knew that Alternia was a touchy subject for most of its refugees, even the name alone could be triggering.

The alien could only nod because he didn’t trust his voice; his throat felt constricted as if he was suffocating from the nightmares that still haunted his thinkpan. Dave must’ve realised he wasn’t going to get a word out of Karkat with the current atmosphere hanging so heavily in the air so he quickly changed the subject. “We better get going, Karkles. Do you need a hat or something to keep those nubs warm?”

Karkat growled, no heat was behind it but Dave knew that. “Let me get my coat.”

 _-_-_-_-_-

When the pair arrived at the make shift gates of the circus they spotted Dirk and Jake instantly; the two were wrapped around each other. Jake’s arms were inside his boyfriend’s coat while Dirk’s were settled around Jake’s shoulders, his chin resting on top of the British boy’s head making the shorter of the two nestle his face into the blond’s neck.

The sight was enough to make Dave physically stop and growl from his throat, showing he was completely and utterly done with his brother’s antics and sappy ways with his boyfriend.  Karkat couldn’t help but think that the night would be fun, but of course that was sarcasm.

“Something tells me that he’s going to be more interested in Jake’s mouth rather than spending time with me tonight.” Dave sounded jealous and bitter as the words passed his lips making Karkat a little surprised; he had never heard the blond be like this before and it made him sad to see Dave’s usual deadpan face sink with a frown.

It was at that point that the alien decided he was going to try his best to cheer Dave up; he deserved it and the insufferable prick wasn’t that bad most of the time.

“Hey lil bro.” Dirk greeted as the two approached the couple. Dirk was taller than Dave; he was paler with more freckles dusting his cheeks, he also chose to style his hair more wildly than his brother with various spikes of blond rising from his head, Karkat decided long ago that the brothers must’ve had an irony competition running because there was no way that Dirk would wear his idiotic triangle glasses seriously.

Dave just nodded at his older brother, his bitterness showing through as he turned his head away from the pair and down to look at the alien. “Do you wanna catch one of the shows first?”

Karkat knew he wanted to make Dave have fun tonight as a pick me up but he couldn’t help but feel guilty for effectively taking Dave’s attention away from Dirk. But, then again, Dirk did bring Jake so it’s not like his attention would be on his little brother in the first place.

“Sure.” His voice was strained from misuse and the cold that was racking his body. He still wasn’t used to Earth winter or winter altogether to be honest; Alternia never really had winter, just an endless extreme summer.

Dave gripped Karkat’s hand softly causing heat to flood into his ash cheeks, his mutant candy red blood becoming more obvious as Dave’s grip tightened, dragging him over to the giant striped tent in the centre of the field that was full of various rides, stalls and people endlessly getting ripped off by the attractions. He was glad that his hand was being held though, not because it was making his stomach flutter pleasantly but because the collection of tents reminded him about the tales of the Subbjuglators: a group of High Bloods. He was very fortunate to not have seen the base with his own eyes as he surely would have been culled on site due to his mutation and with nowhere to run, but there was not one Alternian that didn’t know what death looked like because it came in the form of stripes and spots.

 “Are you going to spend any time with him tonight?” Karkat whispered, silently hoping that Dave didn’t drop his hand because the heat consuming him was very comforting, his body practically buzzing from it.

He didn’t drop Karkat’s hand as he continued to stalk towards the tent, not once looking back at his brother. “Oh sure, there’ll be time when we go home. About five minutes of Dirk-time before I retreat into my room to listen to him and Jakey-boy bump ‘n’ grind.” He growled again, something Karkat knew he would be hearing a lot of. “I may need to shove smuppets in my ears to drown the smut out.”

The alien looked down at the floor, not knowing what else to do. “You could always come back with me?”

Karkat tried not to imagine the numerous scenarios depicted in his romcoms where the love interests were forced to spend the night together which resulted in sloppy make outs and maybe a little bit of sexy time. But he and Dave weren’t love interests. He tried to push down the lurch of his heart as he admitted that to himself.

...now there’s a thought.

But before Karkat could truly question his feelings for the boy, he was dragged into the searing heat of the main attraction tent where stacks upon stacks of chairs ran around the outside of it. He imagined that the Grand High Blood’s tent didn’t look like the inside of this one. In the middle was a man oddly dressed and holding two batons, showing them off to the crowd. Karkat sure hoped he was going to do something with the sticks because if the humans were entertained by two sticks then wow.

Wow.

“Thanks but no thanks, Karkles.” Dave finally responded, dragging Karkat to a pair of seats by the firm yet soft grip on his hand. “That would probably cause more problems than it solves, maybe next time though.” With a small smirk the boy guided the other to a couple of empty seats and pulled him down next to him.

“What’s with the sticks?” The alien asked, his hand extremely still as he tried not to draw attention to the connection.

“This is a typical circus feature.” The blond shrugged, adjusting his glasses with his free hand which made Karkat believe that he was completely aware of their grip on each other because he had used his non dominant hand. “A man must walk endlessly through the woodland on a quest for two sticks to display to the audience and win their approval. If they approve he shall be crowned stick king.”

Karkat snorted at Dave’s explanation but maybe a little too loudly.  He felt his cheeks burn in embarrassment as people began to turn around to take a glimpse at them, muttering ‘trouble making Troll’ under their breaths.  “If you thought I would believe that hoof beast excrement then you obviously are more stupid then I first thought, Strider.” 

Dave smiled softly at the alien, shaking his head fondly before turning his head back to the Stick King.

The Alternian followed Dave’s example and began to watch the show full of acrobats, tight rope walkers and possibly over one million clowns. It is just how Mr Egbert described to him. Even if the floppy humans dressed in over sized clothing were extremely juvenile, he couldn’t help himself from laughing at some of their antics. The way they stumbled and threw food at each other made him almost forget everything else in the world because he was laughing so hard that candy red coloured tears escaped from his eyes.

He was laughing so hard that he didn’t notice the man with the batons walk to the corner of the tent to dip them in a bucket of gasoline.

But Karkat sure as Hell noticed when he lit them on fire.

His eyes were drawn to the flames licking the at the sticks, wide in terror as the orange essences of the roaring heat danced across the man’s face highlighting his makeup menacingly, serrated teeth protruding past his lips as he roared and raised his batons to the audience like a high blood who had just killed another pathetic low blood, a sight which he knew all too well.

The tent began to morph, its bright colours becoming dark and demented as he and the flames became alone; Dave was gone. The audience was gone.

The flames were like the ones that burned down his neighbourhood and hive, too much like the ones that enveloped his brother and father as he chose to hide and leave them alone, it didn’t matter at the time because they were already gone.

Karkat chose to do just then what he had done on his home planet.

He ran.

He dropped the heat hugging his hand and sprinted out the doors, pushing the flaps open and gasping in relief as the cold air hit him like a tonne of bricks, bringing him back from his nightmare. He wasn’t on his planet anymore. He wasn’t going to get culled.

He was free and fine.

But that didn’t stop him from doubling over and wheezing into the floor, his breaths escaping from his dry mouth in shallow, sharp bursts.

He felt stupid that such a simple thing could bring back the terrible memories of his home planet, that a man with two sticks could make him remember the murderers of his family and make his chest ache with anxiety and pain.

His fingers gripped his coat like a life line, shredding the material as his yellow claws tore through it easily. His breaths heaved out of his mouth as he struggled to breathe; his breaths becoming more shallower. He couldn’t breathe.

He couldn’t breathe.

Suddenly a heat was wrapping around his entire body, sinking deep into his center as a comforting touch stroked his shoulder, calming him enough to cause him to look up.

“Shh shhh, Karkles.” Dave was there, a finger pressed up against his own lips as his other hand trailed from Karkat’s shoulder to his back to pull him into the blond’s chest which he fell into willingly. “It’s okay, breathe with me okay?”

Karkat tried not to think about him being so close to Dave, tried not to think about the pair of them kneeling in the middle of a walkway. He just listened to the song that was Dave’s heart harmonized by his steady breaths. Karkat’s cheek and pointed ear were pressed firmly against Dave now as his breaths struggled past his lips in an uneasy rhythm but they were getting better.

“I’m...” Karkat tried to apologise to the other boy, for making him leave the show and for most likely causing a scene but his words were drowned in sobs and labored intakes of air.

“It’s okay, Karkles.” The alien could feel the human pull him into his lap and envelope him in his coat. “Nothing to be sorry for just know I’m here if you need to talk.”

The shaking boy tried not to think too much on the fact that Dave knew he was going to apologise, putting it down to the fact that they’ve just known each other for a while. With a nod of his head, Karkat nestled deeper into the blond’s embrace, trying to make the moment of safety last longer.

 It was at the very same moment that Karkat managed to breathe again, that he decided it was time for a feelings jam because one little word managed to escape his lips. “Fire...” It was stuttered and whispered but Dave heard it if his tightening embrace was anything to go on.

“There...”A stuttered cough interrupted Karkat’s sobs. “Was fire...back-” A sob made him choke on his words. “On Alternina...I couldn’t-“

“shhh...” Dave’s hand began to rub circles into his back, soothing the alien until he was quietly sniffling into the boy’s tear stained jumper. “Let’s get you some cotton candy- unless you want to go home, I understand if you do; panic attacks are horrible. I used to have them after my parents died, don’t have them much now though...”

Karkat suddenly ceased his sobs and most likely his breathing as Dave’s words met his ears; he was completely caught off guard by the little nugget of information he had just heard. Sure, he knew that Dave’s parents weren’t in the picture anymore considering he had never met them and the blond never mentioning them, but he didn’t realise they were dead.

Hell, he wasn’t sure if John knew they were dead.

Karkat’s hands left his coat and found their way around the blond in a comforting hug. “Cotton candy sounds great....”

He felt Dave’s chuckle rumble through his chest and against his cheek. “C’mon then, let’s go get you some diabetes and cavities.”

_-_-_-_-_-_-_

The diabetes and cavities tasted amazing. The slight feeling of weightlessness on Karkats tongue before a heavy pile of sugar was just what he needed to give him energy after an emotional draining. He still couldn’t look Dave in the face after his little outburst because, well...he felt embarrassed; he worked so hard to build up a reputation of hard nut Karkat Vantas that didn’t care about anything and in a matter of seconds it had been utterly obliterated just because he thought a man with two sticks was a high blood thirsty for his mutant blood. 

He could feel Dave’s gaze on him as he pulled pieces of pink fluff from its bag and into his mouth, he so badly wanted to snap at Dave to tell him to stop fucking staring but he couldn’t, his weak spot for Dave had grown. Dave had shared with him something that not even John knew, which made him feel special in a sense, made him feel like he could trust Dave more.

Dave was a great guy and was possible quadrant material but Karkat wasn’t all too sure which quadrant. He had known Dave since he arrived on Earth, he was insufferable and a tad annoying at times but karkat couldn’t shrug off the feeling to want to spend more time with Dave, which was lucky considering the blond will stick to him like glue to keep him safe now. Karkat nearly laughed to himself; he had always assumed Terezi would be the only one he would have flushed feelings for in that way but-

“Fancy going on the tea cups?” Dave interrupted his train of thought with a question that confused him to no end.

“What do you mean?” He asked, still not meeting Dave’s gaze which he knew was still on him from under the boy’s sunglasses. “We’re not going to go sit on fine china are we?”

Dave gave the alien a chuckle and swung his arm around his shoulders so he could guide him towards a colossal metal structure. To Karkat, it looked like a massive silver tray holding several tea cups and saucers, humans and a few Alternians were inside the cups as they turned on the tray as well as on top of the saucers in opposite directions.

“Do you think you can stomach it?” The blond taunted. “They spin pretty fast.” His arm didn’t drop from the alien’s shoulders and Karkat hoped he would keep it there.

Karkat, of course, rolled his eyes with attitude and finally looked up at Dave with an unimpressed look. “Strider, I have experienced more horrific things like space travel. I think I can handle some rotating fine china.”

Dave raised his free hand as if to protect himself if Karkat was to become physically violent. “Did they inform you when you arrived that there were such things as tea cups? Giant cups that spin humans and if you throw up a giant emerges from the pits of hell and drinks from your cup with you inside? “

“You’re full of it.” Karkat growled and moved away from the cups, only half scared if a giant were to appear. John had shown him a documentary called Attack on Titan, he had a right to be scared. “We should find your brother; he’s why you’re here.”

Dave shrugged, his shoulders rolling back slightly in anger. “I know but I’d rather spend time with you.” 

Karkat dared not to look up at the blond’s face as he feared his heated embarrassment would give him away, Dave’s comment made him feel so...so...happy? but he couldn’t let him know that, Dave took the piss most of the time and he probably didn’t mean it in a romantic context, which made Karkat question why the other’s arm was slung tightly around his shoulders with his pale hand gripping Karkat as if he would run away from him.

“Wow...” Karkat struggled for a retort. “Don’t let John hear you say that.” He mentally patted himself on the back for that one.

“Nah, Egbert is cool but yeah...” He paused as if he was thinking something over. “You were my first choice for tonight, I really do like hanging out with you.”

Karkat’s blush deepened as he processed what he had said.

“Who else would you have chosen?” His voice was strained, not trusting it to turn into a series of clicks and skrees as he tried to contain his happiness. Hoping the blond would say that he was the only choice.

“If you didn’t come?” The blond shrugged again, Karkat feeling it against his shoulder and back. “Probably TZ. She’s cool so why not?”

Karkat was having such a good time with Dave; he had forgotten his crush since forever had existed. He was surprised to hear her name from Dave as he had no idea that the blond and the fellow Alternian were that close, he didn’t even know that they knew each other- after all he did basically watch Terezi at all times, he would’ve seen the two become close.

“Terezi?” Now his voice was strained for a different reason, he felt like he had been punched in the chest, it felt as if it were bleeding, he should know; he was stabbed during the rebellion and he survived but he wasn’t sure if he would be able to survive this.

Terezi had always been his first decision for a potential matespirit but as of late Dave had began to fit the mold a bit more than she did. He cared for his well being while he was fairly certain Terezi had forgotten he existed.

“Yeah, she’s pretty funny and wild.” Dave sucked on his teeth. “A bit bitey and she licks my face a lot but yeah, pretty cool gal.”

Karkat shrugged Dave’s arm off his shoulders and dared not look up at the blond’s face. “Let’s find Dirk and Jake.” He walked off, not caring that much if Dave wasn’t following.

 


	5. Insight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More fluff.
> 
> Plot thickens.
> 
> Dave POV.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yiiiissss dave has a tiny lil section at the end of this chapter, may be writing in his POV more often...

“So...” Dave turned to face Karkat, paying no attention to the vibrating phone that was shuffling across the cafeteria table. “Where’s Sollux today?” The blond pointed to the empty seat opposite them where the four horned boy would usually sit with his face shrouded behind a screen of some kind, Sollux really liked Earth technology.

Karkat shrugged, taking a sip of his drink and swallowing it. “I’m not sure. Sometimes he gets these weird headache things and he needs to sleep them off...”

“Has he always had them?” Dave asked, now slipping his phone into his pocket with an annoyed grunt.

Karkat could tell that he was trying to make conversation to ignore the messages on his phone, he wasn’t quite sure if it was Dirk or Terezi on the other side of the screen but he would rather not know, learning about Dave’s and Terezi’s relationship had confused him, making his stomach feel weird.

It had been a couple of weeks since the circus, The Egbert-Lalonde wedding was a couple of days away and Karkat was pretty sure that Dave has ignored his brother ever since.

Karkat’s eyes followed Dave as the blond took a quick glance at his phone before putting it back into his pocket.

“He’s had them since before we arrived yeah- Who’s that?” The alien asked nodding towards the device.

“No one important,” Dave answered straight away, not even missing a beat.

Karkat blushed, his cheeks becoming hot as Dave turned to him to give him a rare smirk with a matching wink from under his shades. His stomach fluttered in ecstasy as he felt a wave of happiness flood through him. Dave really knew how to make him feel confused.

“Are you coming over again today?” Karkat asked, hoping the answer would be yes. The blond had been over every night since the weird agreement started claiming he just got sidetracked after walking Karkat home. Karkat didn’t mind and he had started not to care if Dave knew it.

The Earthling made a face, his lips turning downward in a weird scowl but it was gone as soon as it appeared. “I can’t, sorry...Terezi and Kanaya said that they would help me pick out a suit for the wedding. Kanaya for the actual suit and Terezi because she knows what smells best, I guess.”

 Karkat’s mouth opened and closed, forming words but not making a sound due the horrid feeling eating his happiness. “Oh...” He whispered, letting his mask slip for just a second before plastering on the old Karkat- the one that was grouchy and growled, the one that hadn’t made an appearance for a while. “Good because I was planning to go over to Gamzee’s. I haven’t spoken to my moirail in a while.”

It was a giant lie as he would probably nap and skype Sollux at some point after school.

“Man...” Dave chuckled. “I still don’t get your whacked out quadrants.”

 “Moirail is the equivalent of best friends I guess but deeper, a type of guardianship where we are compelled to keep each other in line...it’s kind of a type of romance.” 

“Oh...” Karkat swore he saw a frown appear on Dave’s lips as well as a crease in between the boy’s eyebrows.

 “So yeah, lots of catching up to do.” Karkat grabbed his tray from the table and stood up, leaving the hall before Dave could follow him. He didn’t wait for Dave after school; he didn’t even care if the blond had waited for him. He may have been getting used to the blonds’ company but there’s no way he could ever get used to the flurry of emotions that he causes.

_-_-_-_-_

“I don’t get it Sol.” Karkat growled, falling backwards onto his soft bed, turning his head to his computer to spy the fellow Alternian rubbing his temples on the screen. “I’ve always liked Terezi. Terezi has always been the one Alternian I wanted in every quadrant but now this fuckass comes along and ruins my emotions.”

Sollux gave a grunt in response, his fingers now massaging harder. His shades he wore in public had been replaced by what Karkat assumed as his father’s visor, he remembered Sollux mentioning something about the visor being meant to calm their abilities due to the matching colours of glass to their eyes.

“He was always an insufferable prick but then again so am I. I’ve been tolerating him recently more than usual and he makes me feel dizzy when he looks at me and ugh!” Karkat screeched and clicked his tongue, his fingers gripping his jumper angrily which he promised Mr Egbert he wouldn’t do; he’s ruined plenty of clothes from his claws. “I’m just unsure on what to do...”

Karkat turned his head to spy his friend nibbling on his bottom lip with his protruding fangs with little trails of yellow tainted liquid trickling down his ashen cheeks. The pain must be unbearable.  He was often prone to headaches when his mutant brain caused him to hear things, he would never tell Karkat what he would hear though, always insisting that he wouldn’t want to know. “Are you alright?”

Sollux only nodded. “I’m thorry KK, justh my head...”

Karkat could tell he was tired and in pain because his lisp had come back two fold. “Maybe you need sleep?”

The taller of the two nodded. “I wish I could help, KK...Maybe think who would be better for you...who would treat you better?”

Karkat nodded, it made sense to pursue the one who treated him better. Terezi hardly looked at him and it wasn’t because she was blind, Dave gave him affection and actually paid attention to what he was saying, cared about his well being.

Karkat’s train of thought faltered as he watched Sollux float in midair on the screen, but he didn’t seem at all phased by it. He just sat in his swivel chair with one hand massaging his head and the other holding onto the edge of the desk to stop him from floating off.

A long string of curses echoed through the other’s microphone, the camera becoming glitch infested as static began to crawl across the window holding Sollux’s face. It took a couple of seconds before the camera returned back to normal, showing Sollux with a deep frown on his face. “Mituna...” He whispered, swallowing hard. “Dad has been trying to help him get back to normal.”

Karkat frowned and nodded. What happened to the elder Captor brother was disastrous. Before the sun set on the last day of their time on Alternia, Mituna had left to find his moirail. Kurloz, Gamzee’s brother, was a highblood and he was one that agreed with equality which his father, The Grand Highblood, took all too dearly. Kurloz was punished, his father making sure that he would never speak another blasphemous word by sewing up his mouth-scars still slashed across his lips, purple with scared tissue. Mituna had returned with his psiionic helmet crushed and filled with his mustard blood, he was unconscious and on the brink of death.

“How have the lessons been?” Karkat asked in a quiet voice, giving Sollux the option to say he didn’t hear him and move on from the subject if he needed to.

Sollux sighed and massaged the bridge of his nose. “He thaid that I was making great progreth- thometimeth I can feel asteroids as far as thaturn ... Mituna however...” Sollux frowned, his eyes becoming rimmed with yellow tears for emotional pain, not physical this time. “Dad thaid he will never be the thame...”

“I’m sorry, Sol...” Karkat matched his friend’s frown.

“There’s nothing to apologise for.” He shook his head with a wince, Karat took this as his time to leave; he didn’t want Sollux’s headache to get worse and for him to become too free with his psiionics.

“I better go down to dinner....” Karkat smiled a little to offer the other boy some happiness. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Sol.”  He waited for the boy to reply before switching off the video call.

-_-_-_-_-_

“Yo,Karkat.”

The alien awoke with a yawn as he felt his shoulder being incessantly shaken, the sheets of his bed slowly rolling off his form and pooling around his waist as he sat up, leaning across to the table by his bed and blindly reaching for the lamp.

Light flooded his room revealing an intruder sitting on his bed; Karkat rubbed his eyes to rid them of sleep only to spot Dave sitting cross legged at the foot of the bed in what looked to be a crisp black suit complete with a back shirt and red tie. “Sup.”

Needless to say, Karkat was confused. Dave was always making him confused.

“Sup?” Karkat whispered, the Egbert’s must’ve been asleep by now which only begged the question on how Dave got in. “How in the almighty fuck did you get in?”

Dave gave a hearty laugh, his shoulders shaking. “We did a swapsies. Me and Rose switched places. Kanaya asked where I wanted to be dropped off and-well here was my first choice, sure beats listening to my brother and Jake-“

“Too much information...” Karkat yawned with a chuckle, his arms stretching above his head until they fell back down to his sides, lightly bouncing on the bed.

Dave smiled at the alien, releasing a slight chuckle as he began to loosen his tie. “Budge over.”

Now Karkat may have been half asleep and he and Dave may have been getting closer in the past weeks but that request jumped a couple of levels.

“W-What!?” Karkat screeched, now fully awake.

“Well I wanted Karkat time since I missed out on my share today,” Dave shuffled up the bed until he was sitting side by side with Karkat. “So to get my fix I bought a little somethin’ on my travels...”

Dave smirked as he pulled out a set of plastic cases from underneath his blazer; Karkat recognised the covers instantly and reached for them with shaking hands.

“Dave...” Karkat gasped as he gripped the DVD cases with such strength that it seemed he thought they would disappear. “These are Alternian.” His eyes looked up to Dave’s face, shocked when he found that no glasses shielded the other’s eyes revealing a pair of stunning ruby eyes. Only John and Dirk knew what was underneath Dave’s shades and now he had become the third being to know which left him breathless- because of the trust that Dave had in him and actually due to the eyes themselves; they were truly beautiful.

Dave played off Karkat’s staring with a slight blush and a nervous smile. “I know...Latula she managed to recover a collection from somewhere...are they the right ones?”

Karkat couldn’t help but give the blond a goofy grin full with his sharp teeth. “Yeah...Dave...I could kiss you...” the alien turned to run his nails along the side of the cases, totally unaware of what he was saying. “The Thresh Prince of Bel-air was all I watched when I was wriggler...thank you so much.”

“Hey...what are best friends for?” Dave whispered, taking his blazer off and laying it across the desk chair pushed up against the bed. “Do you wanna put on a couple of episodes?”

“Hell yeah I do!” The alien no longer cared about his sleeping foster family; he was too excited to keep his voice down. “Prepare to witness a TV show so superior to anything you’ve ever seen.”

“I don’t know about that...” Dave chuckled as he got up to retrieve Karkat’s laptop from his desk nestled in the corner of his room. “Those Nick Cage films I watched with John are straight up masterpieces.”

“Just put them in, fuckass.” Karkat was wriggling with excitement, all of his sleep and worries about being up so late on a school night out the window because damn, there is nowhere else he’d rather be. Terezi sure as hell wouldn’t turn up at his house in the middle of the night, dressed in a suit with his favourite TV show which he thought he would never see again. If he ever was confused, Karkat definitely knew who treated him better now.

Karkat  was so excited and lost in decisions he failed to notice Dave’s hand slowly creeping around him to rest on the pillow supporting his back, the blond wheezed a sigh of relief when his mission was complete, risking a glance at the horned boy to see his smile which he loved so dearly.

_-_-_-

Dave, in one word, was confused about Karkat.

When John had first introduced the horned boy as his new brother Dave knew that it would be a turning point in his life. He couldn’t explain it but just looking at the Alternian made him wonder what noises he made when he was happy, what his hand felt like to hold, what his skin felt like- all these questions were always rushing through his head, unstoppable in every way because upon the first hello he knew that Karkat would be a big part of his life.

The alien was different compared to all the other kids he grew up with because where they twisted to his will due to intimidation, Karkat fought back. Dave was overly fond of the noises and facial expressions that he made and at any chance he got he would watch Karkat under the guise of his shades in hopes of seeing the cute expressions and hearing the clicks and screeches of Karkat’s native tongue.

Which is what confused him.

He never thought he was interested in guys; girls always caught his eyes-hell! He had a crush on John’s cousin Jade for a couple of months before she moved away to Hawaii. But he couldn’t stop his heart racing every time the Alternian entered a room or even looked at him; his increased heart rate was the reason why he knew he didn’t have a creepy alien fetish and was only interested in the new life on his planet because the only Alternian it happened with was Karkat.

Dave was all sorts of confused.

So he thought he may as well as pursue his feelings because if there was a chance he could be happy and have the ashen boy all to himself, then fuck! He would take any chance he could get, which is why he was currently following the boy home due to a deal to protect him. Any opportunity to be with him.

“So what is a Threshecutioner?” Dave asked his hands shoved into the pockets of jacket with his school bag slung over one of his shoulders. Ever since he surprised Karkat with the rare DVDs of his favourite show it had become a sort of tradition for them to marathon it after school.

“The most lethal members in society.” Karkat jumped a little in excitement as he walked, his head turning to talk to Dave, the blond smiling a little as he watched Karkat’s eyes light up with such passion. “They use sickles and are traditionally Alterninan’s with blood below blue on the spectrum.”

“What do they do?”

Dave watched as Karkat bit his lip in thought, as if he was holding back on telling him. He noticed that he did that a lot; whenever he asked about Alternian culture he was either ignored or given a reply which he could only feel like was the clean version with no violence.

“They’re a group in an army.” Karkat shrugged as he gave Dave a short and clean answer which no doubt the alien had held back information on. “I always wanted to be one when I was a wriggler...”

The blond smiled, it was just a slight upturn of his lips as he watched Karkat blush with the confession. “And then shit hit the fan?”

“And then shit hit the fan.” Karkat nodded in agreement, biting his bottom lip again which was something Dave had started to find so endearing. “Could never have been one anyway.”

“Sure you could have.” Dave frowned, hating it when the boy was hard on himself, he needed protection and self esteem and he was happy to supply both.

“I really couldn’t have,” he frowned, his gaze turning down and never leaving the floor. “If shit had never hit the fan and things carried on as normal on our shitty planet I would have been dead within the next sweep...I would’ve been culled.” His voice wasn’t filled with sadness or a sort of fear but it was a matter-of-fact, like he had always known of his fate before his escape.

Dave nearly stopped as he heard those words, his breath catching in his throat in short bubbles of panic, a shiver spreading through his body, running down his back and along each one of his ribs which made his stomach twist terribly.

“You coming?” He heard Karkat call from a couple of metres in front.

He swallowed his panic and nodded numbly. He was glad that the rebellion happened on Alternia, he was thankful that thousands escaped the wrath of the high bloods and he was damn right eternally  grateful that Karkat was adopted by the Egbert family and that he was able to spend time with him.

Dave would want to spend all of eternity with the alien, which made him think that maybe he wasn’t that confused anymore and not just pursuing Karkat for happiness because he now knew he was head over heels in love with Karkat.


	6. walk the moon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> weddings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> all mistakes are my own D: 
> 
> updates will be less frequent and probably every two weeks since i have sixth form and i actually need to write the chapters but yaaaas
> 
> plot is beginning to kick in

Karkat felt stupid. He felt like the most stupidest idiot ever to walk underneath the sun because damn, he looked ridiculous in his suit. The sleek black tie felt like a noose around his neck, tight and uncomfortable making him loosen it in an attempt to breathe. His shirt was too stuffy and rubbed irritatingly against his grub scars making him wince when he turned.

“Nope.”

A pair of pale hands wound around his chest from behind to push the knot back to the top of his shirt, a chuckle emitting from the owner. “You know Miss Lalonde will have a fit if she doesn’t find everything perfect for her wedding.”

“I feel ridiculous.” He growled, turning around to face Dave with a scowl on his lips.

“You look it.” The blond replied quickly, running his fingers back through his styled hair.

Karkat’s scowl deepened as he gently scratched his ribs in order to relieve the irritation on his grub scars. “So what actually happens in a wedding?”

“Well...” Dave slowly reached for karkat’s hands; cupping them to stop him from scratching holes in his suit with those claws he called nails.  “First is the ceremony which takes place in a church, or on a beach or some shit... then there’s this big after party thing with cake, alcohol and dancing-haven’t you ever come across one in your sappy romance movies?” Dave turned Karkat to face him, his hands now smoothing out the tie so it was no longer crooked.

“Of course I have.” The shorter of the two screeched. “I just didn’t understand what was happening; we didn’t have marriage on Alternia.”

“It’ll be fun.” Dave smiled, “I’ll even save a dance for you.”

 Karkat could practically see his face grow red in the reflection on Dave’s shades which he refused to remove for the wedding. “Why in the name of all that is fucking holy would I want to dance with you? Would I sink that low as to-“

 “Don’t lie. You can’t wait to dance with me.” Dave smirked, “I’ll meet you at the church, Karkles.” The blond even had the audacity to lift up his shades to wink at the alien before swiftly backing out of his room and running down the stairs.

Karkat waited until he heard the front door close before letting a sweet smile spread across his face, already missing the touches Dave gave him as well as the sound of his voice.

“Wow...”

Karkat was too zoned out to even notice John wonder into his bedroom, dressed in his own suit and his wild hair tamed by mountain of hair gel and hairspray.

Karkat’s face quickly turned from his vulnerable state full with love and calmness back to his stony exterior and scowl that could possibly kill if he tried hard enough.

“The fuck do you want, John?”  He growled before turning back to the mirror to try and do something with his own hair which was very hard to do due to his horns.

“Nothing.” The boy shrugged, his buck teeth protruding from his top lip as he smiled widely, leaning against the door with his arms crossed. Karkat rolled his eyes at the actions as John always got like this when he thought he had leverage on someone. “Just I didn’t even know that Dave was here.”

“That’s your fault for being so fucking dense.” The alien didn’t look away from his reflection, trying to make it seem that he wasn’t bothered by what the human had to say, trying to flatten his hair as he did so.

“You’ve been spending a lot of time with each other.”  John chuckled, now walking towards the mirror and standing behind the small Alternian. “If I knew any better I’d say something was going on between you two.”

“Nothing is going on between us.” He growled, trying not to meet the blue eyes that refused to leave him. “He’s just a friend.” He insisted.

“Suuuurreee.” John teased, now turning to stand besides the mirror to look directly at his brother. “Dave is a good guy, Karkat and you two seem to really hit it off.” His tone was no longer a teasing one, he seemed concerned.

“What are you saying, John?” Karkat couldn’t take it anymore and looked at him in the eyes.

“I’m saying that you two would be good together.” The human approached the alien and placed his pale hand on Karkat’s shoulder. “I like seeing you happy. I like seeing Dave happy.” He placed his other hand on Karkat’s shoulder so the horned boy was looking directly into his eyes. “Karkat...I’ve never seen you two so happy when you’re around each other, so why not try it?”

Karkat’s face dropped as he processed John’s words. He was always scared that Dave didn’t like him in that way but to hear the blond’s oldest friend reveal that he had never seen Dave so happy made his stomach feel funny and his chest swell with happiness.

“BOYS!” Rose called from the bottom of the stairs, probably tapping her foot if the incessant clicks on the floor was anything to go by. “Get your asses down here!”

Karkat smiled slightly to himself as he couldn’t help but let his thoughts drift to Dave and how excited he was to dance with him later.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_

Miss Lalonde (or now Mrs Egbert) looked beautiful in her dress. It was pure white with frills of pink here and there over her bodice. Karkat was never one to cry at such simple things but to witness two people pledge themselves to each other was amazing. It never happened on Alternia, most couples in the flushed quadrants were never bound legally in any way what so ever. They just filled a bucket and were done with each other for a while.

Karkat always found it romantic when two Alternian’s took each other in every quadrant; others had called him desperate when he admitted it though. His father always used to say that he and his mother took one another in each quadrant. His brother  had all of his quadrants filled by one Alternian but his time had come before the pair could have a life together.

Now he wanted to cry for an entirely different reason.

But he kept his tears back; his family wouldn’t want him to be sad. Well, families.

As he turned to watch Mr and Mrs Egbert leave the church his eyes landed on Dave a few rows behind him, the blonds’ mouth quirked up in a half smile. It just made him remember on how wanting someone in every quadrant wasn’t desperate, it was wanting to devote oneself to another for all of eternity and he was damn right down for that whether it was with Dave or someone else, he just wanted what his father had and what his brother had.

The alien was so caught up in his own thoughts that he hadn’t realised that the guests were slowly filing out of the church through small wooden doors, a nudge by John soon brought him back to reality and made him follow the crowd all too eagerly as he had Dave’s promise of a dance in the back of his thinkpan.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_

The reception was nothing like Karkat had anticipated.

In his romcoms the reception was always full of adult humans making polite conversation with sexual innuendos and toasting to random things but this, this was the exact opposite.

Teenagers littered the dimly lit room as a disco ball was hung in the centre of the room, showering the guests and tables in tiny shards of light.

Mrs Egbert was at the bar, her seventh drink in her hand as she greeted people and thanked them for coming while her husband was protecting the cake he made with his life, his arms stretched around it as if he was hugging his new child.

Now that’s a thought. Now that the two were married, babies were something that were bound to happen and where would that leave Karkat? What if the house gets too crowded and he was forced to leave? Moving away from everyone he had come to love and-

“Okay you stop that right now.”

Karkat looked up from where he must’ve been burning a hole into the floor with his worried gaze, his eyes landing on Dave with a worried look on his face. “Stop what?”

“Stop over thinking something that is probably nothing.” Dave crosses his arms with a smirk, just before Karkat could ask what the Hell he was talking about, Dave gave an explanation. “I know you, Karkat, you over think the smallest of things and when you do your nose gets all scrunched up and you space out, as cute as it is... you’re really just making yourself worry about something for no reason.”

The alien didn’t know what to say so he just turned his face away from the blond in hopes he wouldn’t see the blush across his cheeks. Dave called him cute.

“Quite the turn out, huh?” Dave was now standing right next to him, leaning in to speak in the alien’s ear due to the loud music playing through the room. “Half of our school year is here.”

“That’s because Mr and Mrs Egbert are friends with their parents.” Karkat shrugged, leaning back to talk into Dave’s ear. It was an action which made him feel giddy; making him feel like Dave was his and only his.

Dave smiled, his head turning to take a full view of the room, chuckling when he watched a tall four horned Alternian enter the room with Sollux. “Wow, Sollux looks a lot like his dad.”

Karkat had to agree, the two were nearly identical to each other. Sollux’s father was a prime example of what Sollux would grow up to be, Mituna was sort of an anomaly.

The alien was paying so much attention to watching his friend and his father walk around the room that he didn’t notice Dave slide his shades down his nose, fold them up and put them in his pocket. The human made the choice of not having any barriers up around Karkat, he wanted to have nothing to hide around someone who made his heart thump like a rapid bass drum.

“Now...”Dave started, his hand leaving the comfort of his trouser pockets to find Karkat’s own. “How about that dance?”

Karkat jumped in surprise as he felt his hand be enveloped in warmth, causing him to turn in surprise to face the blond, a shiver running down his spine as his eyes met with Dave’s. He had never been a fan of red due to what the colour had caused him, but he couldn’t help but love it on Dave.

“What about it? If you want to dance go right ahead, I’m not stopping you.” Karkat growled, turning to face away from the blond slowly tugging him into the centre of the dance floor, John and Vriska were already dancing and so were Tavros and Gamzee. Karkat couldn’t help but notice how Vriska glared at Tavros, pulling John closer to her body every time the rust blood looked away from his matesprite’s face.

He’ll look into that later...

“That’s the thing, Karkles.” Dave swallowed, probably not because of nerves. Strider’s never get nervous. “You are stopping me from dancing; I don’t want to dance with anyone else.”

Karkat refused to look at Dave now; he knew a smug look would be etched onto his face if the chuckle was anything to go by. He tried to pull his hand back away from Dave’s grip but only weakly, he wanted to hold onto the warmth for as long as possible.

“O don’t you dare look back, just keep your eyes on me...”

Dave had now taken both of Karkat’s hands in his, pulling him slowly onto the dance floor while singing the lyrics perfectly, his eyes not once leaving Karkat’s own. Karkat couldn’t help but be mesmerised by the way Dave smiled or how his eyes lit up as he slowly pulled the relaxing alien into his chest.  Karkat could feel Dave’s breath on his forehead as he untangled his hands from ashen ones to place them on the smaller boy’s shoulders, bringing him impossibly close.

Karkat felt weird to just leave his hands hanging freely by his sides and so with nothing else to do he wrapped them around Dave’s waist earning a deep hearty chuckle from the blond.

“Shut up and dance with me...”


End file.
